CHARLESTON, W.Va. — U.S. Sen.-elect Shelley Moore Capito has a lot of work ahead of her and a short time to get it done.
“I have to be out of my congressional office in Washington by November 20th,” she said while attending Charleston’s Veterans Day Parade Tuesday. “I will vacate that space and they’ll give me some temporary office space in the Senate office building”
Capito was elected to a six-year term in the Nov. 4 General Election. She defeated Secretary of State Natalie Tennant by 28 percent.
Capito said things are run quite differently in the Senate than the House. She’s finding things move slower on that side of Capitol Hill. Even getting permanent office space takes time. Capito is also in transition back at home where she’ll go from representing a single congressional district to the entire state.
“It means much bigger responsibility and we’ll have offices throughout the state,” she said. “I imagine we’ll hire more people and caseworkers to help people with issues.”
However, amid all of those activities she still has business to wrap up in the House of Representatives. The budget is still in need of approval. The House is expected to work on measures for combating Ebola and Capito thought there will probably be House action on the fight against Isis, particularly since President Obama this week committed 1,500 additional troops to the fight in Iraq.
Looking forward to her Senate duties, Capito’s priority for a committee assignment is clear and she’s already communicated it to anticipated Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“The committees line up differently in the House than they do in the Senate, so I’m still making that determination,” she said. “But certainly I want to be somewhere I can be influential with coal and that will be my number one priority when looking for a committee.”
Capito also anticipated Congress will move forward with a meaningful energy policy which will benefit all forms of energy, including coal and help shore up the nation’s energy needs.
“This era of the election being so tumultuous I really think there’s a mandate from people to get along, make progress and make good decisions,” she said. “That’s going to be a driving force and I think we’re going to surprise some people.”